Love the concept of a working memory score for code.
> the number of distinct pieces of program state that a developer needs to keep in their head when analysing a function and the impact this has on the understandability and maintainability of code.
The same concept applies not just to writing code, but to any context that you need to load up in order to do your work. E.g. context when jumping into a meeting or when reviewing a new project spec.
In those cases, one of the key things is being able to offload what you don't need in your working memory right now to some other solution (usually notes). More on that here https://www.stashpad.com/blog/working-memory
> More importantly, the process of adding to and maintaining the knowledge base felt more burdensome than beneficial
I wonder if being able to recollect things later in an organized way may not be worth the effort for you.
Something I've found is that I really don't need a robust personal knowledge base. My goal is to do my work well (and taking notes to support this is definitely valuable). Building a personal knowledge base doesn't support this goal and has a more unclear value-prop, so it's a drag to keep up with.
Right, I've always found the value in organizing and writing notes is that it forms better memories from which to recollect.
Most of my writing (other than a few references or short-term scratch pads) is "write once, read never".
Pretty soon if not already, we should be able to write in any written form and have a language model search it for us using fuzzy search terms, as well as make inferences based on the text.
>What advantages do you see to keeping a large number of tabs open at a time? Do you find that you return to them?
I edited my comment to expand a little on that. Adding to it, tabs for me are a crude thinking tool. I usually open links as new tabs so I can see how my search for information has branched out. The practice is unwieldy and results in my browser being the highest consumer of system resources, but at least I can see how I came to research a particular thing. It's more insightful than browser history, which only tells a linear story. Browsers these days will also try to direct you to open tabs if you type something similar in a search bar, which can be interesting for connecting previous inquiries with new ones.
I should dive into the Next browser. Apparently it has a tree-based history, which might be an efficient solution for my needs: https://nyxt.atlas.engineer/
Agree that jumping between tools at the expense of focusing on craft won't get you the results you want:
> If we're fixated on acquiring every new tool that comes our way, we risk missing out on developing our fundamental, timeless skills—the abilities that transcend technological trends and persist throughout time
But the tools we use can have a big impact on our behavior.
Each tool makes some behaviors easier and others more difficult. By choosing tooling that aligns with your goals, you make it much easier to achieve those goals.
I'm currently knee-deep in the notes space* so will give an example there. I regularly talk to people who have invested a lot of time in their notes / productivity tooling. Their systems "look" good. But more often than not, they're over-engineered and get in the way of their goals.
When they take a step back and switch to simpler tools that align with their desired behaviors, they find more sustainable productivity and more space to hone their craft.
*working on https://stashpad.com - would love to chat if you've had a similar experience.
I'm wondering what happy mediums might exist between the note-taking world, the wiki world, and the collaborative office document world.
Office-oriented tools like Nextcloud or Collabora seem to be oriented to classic Microsoft Word / Google Docs style documents... not as simple as Markdown or as web-friendly as a wiki page.
The note taking tools everyone's talking about don't seem to support collaborative editing. If they're file-based without a server, then you either have to lock the file for editing, or you have to always remember to sync first to avoid conflicts. Syncthing can't really handle that scenario very well.
Also, wikis usually aren't file-based... they require a database. Plus they don't seem to be as lovingly designed as the note-taking tools... they seem to have a very retro MediaWiki style.
Does anyone know of a self-hosted solution that checks all those boxes? File-based (perhaps aided by database driven indexing) with real collaborative editing, more web-oriented than Word-oriented?
But I really think you can check us out as I think we can cover those boxes for you.
We offer real-time collaborative editing which also works offline. We deal with all those conflict issues for you.
And though we aren't file-based, we do offer various export options such as MD, HTML, PDF and images.
We expect to have the latest Docker version and real-time collaboration available towards the end of this month. In the mean time I'd invite you to try the client to see how it feels.
I've been using Logseq for a few months and am loving it. Its model is pretty different from Evernote, and in ways I think are superior. The heart of is the daily journal, and you can tag each lump (which they call a block) with hashtags. You can also create pages, of course, but I find myself doing that less and less.
Yeah, Logseq really works with my mind. I create pages, but as anchors to refer to various people or concepts. Every block is created inside the daily note. It took me a while to stop overthinking it and just use the daily note.
... it's so easy to create and revise cards using this plugin, which is really important, as I almost never get a card's shape right for committing something to memory on the first try.
A couple caveats I'd mention:
* Logseq's sync system was really buggy for me during the time I used it. I stopped using it for a while, as the sync was the only way I could get E2E encryption and still have mobile access. With iOS advanced data security, I feel like iCloud sync gets me most of the way there.
* They really need to invest in the editor experience. If I had something like a Bear or Typora experience within Logseq, I think I'd have my perfect tool.
> He describes studies that have found a substantial delay in the reaction time of people talking on their cell phone while driving --- or even just holding conversations with someone in the car while driving. A similar delay has not been found in these studies when the driver is doing more passive activities such as listening to the radio or an audio book; it is the need to focus on a conversation that limits the working memory's ability to effectively support driving at the same time.
When your mind is holding items in working memory, that means that it has less space to focus and execute effectively on the main task at hand.
Just writing things down gives some resolution of that task/thought so that we can fully show up for our main thing.
Working on a new notepad for jotting things down to free up working memory. The goal is to make it easy to capture things and add some organization when you want.
>When your mind is holding items in working memory, that means that it has less space to focus and execute effectively on the main task at hand.
>Just writing things down gives some resolution of that task/thought so that we can fully show up for our main thing.
Anecdotal but there was a time in my life not too long ago where I found myself stressed out because I had so many life admin tasks to do but would also have to remember not only the task, but what I had to do, when I could do it, how far along it was. I was unable to sleep properly and day to day tasks were being affected.
It sounds so bloody simple in hindsight, but simply writing them into a kanban style app removed a lot of this stress. Every time I remembered I had to do something new I would just add it to the board. I also have issues with starting these tasks so while it's never going to be finished, at least the tasks are there and not in my brain
When I was relocating internationally, it was keeping track of the task dependency structure that stressed me out. After doing X and Y do Z.
I ended up jotting down the tasks/dependencies in dot syntax to quickly get items recorded and out of my mind during the day, then at the end of the day updated rendered the whole depency graph to give the overview.
I had a similar problem. I now maintain a simple TODO note on my phone and organize the items by priority sections (Now, Soon, and Eventually). I check off the items once I’m done and remove them after a while. This does a few things:
- Relieves the stress of having to remember random stuff that comes up during the day
- Allows me prioritize my worries… the “Eventually” category usually consists of lower-priority things that would have low impact if I didn’t get them done soon (or at all in some cases)
- Gives me a sense of accomplishment when I check off an item
I like this better than the iOS Reminders app since I have more control over various things (with a huge disadvantage of it not being time/date-aware.
I use a similar method, but implemented in iOS reminders. I have different lists for the different categories. And now with a smart list I have created a category/list "this week" that lists actionable items with a due date within the next 7-days. [1] This is loosely based on GTD [2]
For personal tasks (not work), I use a todo list that emphasizes not having the task in view if I've decided it's not a candidate to do that day. (Such as by using the Start Date feature of some tools.)
I also try to cull the candidate tasks for the next day on the night before, bumping tasks so that I won't see them and have to consider them the next morning, wasting fresh brain.
I'm good at multi-tasking, but there's noticeable costs to that, so I try not to do it unnecessarily.
I've just got a tiny notebook currently with one task per page in big marker, for all those random one-off things to do. Just flip it to the task that needs to get done, and nothing else in sight.
How do you decide which task to do next? (Do you have to look at many tasks, and load enough of each task context into your brain to decide whether to do that one?)
I work in aviation safety research, and there are many problems we reduce to "task overload." Pilots and ATC are under an incredible workload and often required to multiple things at once. We have more and more things to monitor and many things vying for attention. There are also a litany of issues such as staff shortages and busy airspace and software issues that exacerbate the mental workload placed upon them. It also does not help we place most of the burden and responsibility of safe operation onto pilots and ATC.
Unfortunately, we lack the tools to quell the information overload and focus on the most impactful items in the OODA loop. We also often lack data and even the right vocabulary/taxonomy to make statistical conclusions about how much is too much.
As a personal anecdote, a long time ago I tried learning Chinese from a CD on my commute. I gave up after a couple of days because I realized it was affecting my driving. I needed a lot of concentration to practice the language and found I was making driving mistakes.
I’ve been recently using a notes app for gathering information that is somewhat structured, but I realized sometimes I need something for temporary messy stuff, and it does help a lot.
Now I’m thinking maybe the ideal is to have at least two types of notes:
* The messy more ephemeral stuff you’ll probably delete later.
* The more structured and summarized stuff you’ll review from time to time and adapt to your latest understanding of it.
This might also explain why simply having a passenger in your car with you will impair your driving. You're probably paying some amount of attention to the passenger.
My code phrase is "just a minute" -- a phrase I developed a habit for when people want to interrupt me at work when I'm not in a place where I can safely pause.
Even if I'm doing something so simple as writing out a label (we just packed up to move, so its fresh on my mind) and my GF says something to me, I won't respond until I get done writing it out. She gives me shit and says I can't multitask, but dammit let me focus.
> I've never had one that was helpful in such a way
Had a fun moment with this just yesterday. We were driving across a road behind a line of cars stopped at a red light. The angle was such that I couldn't see the oncoming lane.
I go "Hey I can't see around these cars but you can, is anyone approaching?" and my passenger replies "No, all clear". We move forward slowly and ZOOM a car whooshes past us.
So yeah, I don't think passengers are paying attention even when they say they are.
Trust no one, you’re solely in charge when behind the steering wheel. At least till cars start becoming fully autonomous but then who is to be held responsible if something goes bad..
I found that when I listen to something interesting while driving a car, let's say an audio book or something in the radio unconscious mind seems to drive the car on autopilot.
If I'm lucky I arrive at my destination without remembering anything about the ride.
If I'm unlucky my unconscious autopilot does something stupid like taking a wrong turn or blindly following a sight to the Autobahn (but the wrong one) and I suddenly realize "I have no idea where I am" and have to fix this.
In the latter case I'm completely unable to focus on the audio book or radio any more until I'm in known terrain again.
Just a heads up, I can use 'Delete current stash' on the Trash stash which then places Trash as an entry inside of itself. Two potential outcomes of this is:
- If I use 'Empty trash' it removes Trash entirely such that 'Go to Trash (deleted)' or 'Delete' no longer does anything until restarting the app.
- If I use 'Delete' on the Trash entry inside of itself it will crash the app.
I could drag up the edit box to get it bigger, but maybe you should just let is almost to the top, not completely to the top, as dragging it down interferes with the iOS notifications drag down.
I'm a person who thinks very deeply about stuff and that often includes latching on to something that was either said or I thought of during a conversation and then zoning out and thinking about that (just for context).
When I was younger I was single and almost never had passengers in my car. I rarely talked on my phone (before we were forced to be hands free) but occasionally I would and I'd say overall did not find having it in my hand a particular distraction (honestly what would that have to do with anything).
Anyway, I remember when "bans" came into effect and put my phone on bluetooth. I was talking to my mom on the speakerphone in the car, and suddenly realized I'd gone through a red light, and realized I'd better hang up and drive.
Tldr, for me anyway it's being on the phone that's distracting because it, as mentioned above, gets me thinking about other stuff, and I actually find talking to the air more confusing than either phone to ear or a person in the car. Though I routinely tell my wife to stop talking when I'm driving in traffic (I don't mean this as a joke) because I find it too distracting to be involved in conversation when I need to think about driving. Obviously I'm a shitty multitasker but I suspect this is true to some extent for most people.
